Fantasy Football Draft Guide 2024: NFC South Coaches & Their NFL Systems

While the value of learning the various NFL coaching systems is immeasurable, it also happens to be one of the most underrated assets. That is why Fantasy Alarm’s Fantasy Football Draft Guide puts it front-and-center for you each and every season.

Most draft guides are run-of-the-mill. You get your linear fantasy football player rankings, they offer you a few sleepers to target, a few busts to avoid and try to talk you through the latest fantasy football ADP as a way to promote draft strategy. They may throw you a few stats like YAC and aDOT to sound fancy, but without an understanding of which offenses feature what attributes, these are just numbers on a page, not legitimate reasons to invest in a player or team.

For example, just because a player has a low aDOT (average depth of target), it doesn’t mean he’s a bad player in fantasy. Teams that run a west coast offense and utilize short, high-percentage passing will typically feature low aDOT receivers who thrive in full-point PPR formats. Drafting them could be highly beneficial depending on how you’re constructing your roster, but if you don’t understand the “why,” you’re just throwing darts and hoping for the best. 

We teach you NFL systems to give you the full lay of the land, and we offer our Dynamic Tier Fantasy WR rankings and Fantasy Football Cheat Sheet in conjunction to help you learn how to build a true championship roster. As always, open up the AFC East Coaching Systems article so you have the full glossary of schemes and personnel packages at your fingertips. Having that as a reference point will only make your research easier!

2024 Fantasy Football: NFC South NFL Coaching Systems

Atlanta Falcons

Falcons Offensive Breakdown

Have you ever heard a team’s fan base breathe such a heavy sigh of relief? After crushing the fantasy value of elite weapons like Bijan Robinson, Drake London and Kyle Pitts, Arthur Smith got the boot, and the Falcons went in a much different direction this season. Raheem Morris takes over as the new head coach and he brought in former Rams passing game coordinator Zac Robinson to build a winning offensive scheme. The anticipation and excitement are off the charts.

Despite his work as a passing game coordinator, Robinson knows the Falcons need to run the ball a ton in an effort to set up the downfield passing work. He’s a Sean McVay disciple, so we’ll see a lot of 11-personnel and a wide zone blocking scheme. This will stretch the defense out horizontally as well as force the opposition to use more defensive backs on the field than true run-stoppers.

Robinson is not expected to split the carries among Bijan Robinson and Tyler Allgeier the way Smith did during his tenure, so expect a true bell cow situation for the former first-round pick. Robinson’s wide-zone blocking is much more suitable for Bijan than a plodding, between-the-tackles game plan as it allows him to run directly to the outside edge and use both his speed and field-of-vision to head up the field. He can choose to go all the way to the outside or, if the defense allows him, to cut back and then head north. This is the exact style Bijan owners could hope for, and it will unlock the abilities and production we were all expecting last season.

As for the passing game, this should also be exciting. Kirk Cousins worked in this system in Minnesota under Kevin O’Connell, and he’s got elite targets in Drake London and Kyle Pitts. Darnell Mooney will be used to stretch the field vertically and Rondale Moore will be the third wideout in 11-personnel but understand that the targets are definitely more contained with this group. London will be tasked with the Justin Jefferson/Cooper Kupp role and Pitts should be the guy to help with most of the underneath, move-the-chains, both as a tight end and slot receiver, so for fantasy purposes, the fringe players may only be worth drafting in a handcuff/depth role.

Overall, this should be a much more exciting Falcons offense and one that should push their elite playmakers to the top of anyone’s fantasy rankings.  

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Kirk Cousins, Bijan Robinson, Drake London, Kyle Pitts
• Worst Fits For The System: Darnell Mooney, Rondale Moore, Tyler Allgeier

Falcons Defensive Breakdown

• Defensive Front: 3-4 With Multi-Front Looks
• Secondary: Cover-3 Match Zone
  • Man Coverage: 20.7% (21^st)
  • Zone Coverage: 77.6% (12^th)

Prior to spending last season as an assistant head coach to Sen McVay, new defensive coordinator Jimmy Lake spent eight years climbing up the ranks at the University of Washington where he served as a defensive backs coach, a defensive coordinator and a head coach. Before that, he worked as a defensive assistant and defensive backs coach for the Lions and Buccaneers, so he is no stranger to the NFL ranks. The system he built puts a strong focus on the defensive backfield, but clearly, he understood the assignment with the way he’s handling the run-stopping up front.

The 3-4 base is where the front seven will spend much of their time, but Lake will also throw in some two-man fronts as well, depending on the health of his defensive linemen and everyone’s ability to move back and forth between the line and linebacker position. Grady Jarrett and David Onyemata are going to be integral pieces both in stopping the run and rushing the passer, but the Falcons used some pretty strong draft capital on defensive tackles Ruke Orhorhoro and Brandon Dorius, so expect to see them rotating in with some frequency. The Falcons struggled to stop the run last year and Lake wants to make sure they improve dramatically.

In the secondary, things get a bit more complex. Using a Cover-3 zone can leave you susceptible to the big play and with so many teams using four vertical threats in their offensive scheme, Lake knows he needs to find a way to neutralize. Just like offenses use “read and react” route running, Lake’s defensive backs and linebackers will be tasked with the same. They will need to read the offense, identify the routes being run and make the appropriate adjustments. This takes place both before and after the snap. It might take the defense a little time to get used to everything, but once they are locked in, this will be a tough group to pass on with both consistency and success.

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Grady Jarrett, David Onyemata, A.J. Terrell
• Worst Fits For The System: Lorenzo Carter

Carolina Panthers

Panthers Offensive Breakdown

If you enjoyed the Buccaneers offense last season and benefitted from the likes of Baker Mayfield, Rachaad White and Mike Evans, you’re going to enjoy the potential for the Panthers this season. Dave Canales left Tampa Bay to take the head coaching job here in Carolina and brought his former wide receivers coach Brad Idzik with him to serve as the new offensive coordinator. Canales will start out as the play caller but should, at some point, begin to defer to Idzik while he takes more of a bird’s-eye view of the team’s system on both sides of the ball. The two have been together for quite some time – Seattle and Tampa Bay – and are very much on the same page with regard to this offense and helping Bryce Young thrive at the NFL level.

Canales also brought offensive line coach Harold Goodwin over with him and made him the run-game coordinator, hoping/expecting Goodwin to do the same for second-round pick Jonathon Brooks that he did for Rachaad White in Tampa. They beefed up the run blocking with improvements on the offensive line and we expect to see significant volume. Obviously, the target is getting Brooks up and running, but as he continues his recovery from ACL surgery, we can probably expect to see a fair amount of Chuba Hubbard early on as well. Canales and Idzik like getting their running backs involved in the passing attack as well, so that could mean Hubbard gets more of an opportunity as a third-down complement. If you are drafting Brooks, you definitely want to handcuff him to Hubbard.

The Panthers are running a west coast offense, so expect a lot of short, high-percentage passing. That will get Young more comfortable and into a groove quicker with a higher completion rate. The arrival of Diontae Johnson will be a huge boost for the second-year quarterback as he fits this scheme well, being both a possession receiver and someone who can stretch the field. Yards after the catch will be a priority, so keep a watchful eye on rookie Xavier Leggette, who gives off lots of Jayden Reed/Deebo Samuel vibes.

This offense is going to show dramatic strides from where they were last season. We watched Trevor Lawrence, and the Jaguars take a step forward once Doug Pederson implemented his scheme and now, we’re going to see steps forward for Bryce Young now that there is a system in place that caters to his strengths. Canales and Idzik did amazing things for that Tampa offense in the post-Brady era, and we expect similar improvements here. Use the ADP to your advantage and consider most of the offensive weapons outside of Diontae Johnson as value depth picks on draft day.

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Diontae Johnson, Jonathon Brooks, Adam Thielen
• Worst Fits For The System: Tommy Tremble

Panthers Defensive Breakdown

• Defensive Front: 3-4 Base With Multi-Front Looks
• Secondary: Cover-2 Base With Cover-1 & Cover-3 Mixed In
  • Man Coverage: 12.1% (30^th)
  • Zone Coverage: 84.7% (3^rd)

Rather than completely reinvent the wheel, Canales opted for some year-to-year consistency, at least in defense, by retaining Ejiro Evero as the Panthers’ defensive coordinator. The unit struggled last season, but Canales, obviously, saw some elements he liked and preferred to retain heading back into this season. Evero is a Vic Fangio disciple, having worked under him in San Francisco and also served as the safeties coach in Los Angeles under Brandon Staley, also a Fangio man. The scheme is sound. Evero just needs to get more out of his personnel.

The front seven will work out of a 3-4 base to give Evero a chance to disguise where the pass rush is coming from, but we also expect to see some four-man fronts due to Carolina’s trouble stopping the run last year. They brought in run stoppers A’Shawn Robinson and Shy Tuttle to help solidify the defensive line with Derrick Brown and former Broncos linebacker Josey Jewell should also help. As a defensive backs guy, Evero is going to need to make sure this part of the defense is solid. He wants versatility from his front seven these days, not just a bunch of guys rushing the passer.

But keep in mind, this unit will likely be more aggressive with blitz packages. Evero had a high blitz rate back when he was in Denver but backed off last season. Perhaps that had to do with personnel. Now that he has some bigger bodies up front in the interior, he can be more creative with his blitz packages without sacrificing the run defense.

The secondary will stay primarily in zone coverage and Evero will have his moments where he likes to add an extra defensive back. He learned to disguise coverage packages from Fangio, so expect to see a variety of other zones coming out of Cover-2. We’ll see some pre-snap adjustments to lure the offense into thinking the coverage will be one way, but quickly shift to another once the ball is snapped. 

We’ll also have a lot riding on the performance of the safeties. The Panthers went out and added Jordan Fuller and Nick Scott to work alongside Xavier Woods, so, hopefully, their experience will help bolster the secondary and allow the front seven to do what they need to do without continuously worrying about pass coverage.

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Derrick Brown, Josey Jewell, Shy Tuttle
• Worst Fits For The System: Xavier Woods, Jordan Fuller

New Orleans Saints

Saints Offensive Breakdown

Head coach Dennis Allen is more of a defensive-minded coach and leaves the offense to his coordinators. With veteran personnel, he didn’t want to upset the apple cart, so he retained longtime coordinator Pete Carmichael, but the offense remained stagnant over the last two seasons. It was partially due to personnel but also had a lot to do with the system needing some updated adjustments. But rather than see if Carmichael could change his stripes, Allen opted for change and, oh baby, what a change it was.

Welcome to the new-look Saints offense led by Klint Kubiak and longtime offensive line and zone-blocking guru Rick Dennison. If you’ve followed these NFL coaching scheme articles in the past, you know exactly what’s coming and, from a fantasy perspective, have to be excited. While normally we hype up the Gary Kubiak/Rick Dennison days in Denver and Houston, son Klint follows directly in the footsteps of his father and Dennison has helped them both along.

It begins with the run, something the Saints haven’t led with for quite some time. The elder Kubiak, along with Dennison, perfected a zone-blocking scheme that turned a number of no-name running backs into elite 1,000-yard rushers. We’re talking about guys like Mike Anderson, Orlandis Gary and Reuben Droughns from Denver and Steve Slaton and Arian Foster in Houston.

When the two took over in Minnesota, they helped Dalvin Cook become an absolute beast. So, while many will dismiss Alvin Kamara for his age and routine usage as a pass catcher in a Joe Lombardi/Pete Carmichael system, he is very likely to thrive in this outside-zone scheme. He has the speed necessary to take it to the outside and has strong cut-back ability as well. Do not sleep on him on draft day and when you handcuff, go for Kendre Miller instead of Jamaal Williams. Miller definitely fits better into this scheme.

Once the run is established, the Saints will turn to west coast-style passing which is, again, a major change from Carmichael’s Air Coryell timing offense. The Saints will use short, high-percentage passing to help move the chains and will utilize play-action to push the ball downfield. They will focus on routes that help push yards after the catch and get the receivers out in space more. This definitely suits Chris Olave’s style. We’ll have to see who works better in camp between Rashid Shaheed and A.T. Perry. The fantasy community is loving Shaheed this offseason, but unless he starts doing more than just stretching the field, he’s going to remain one-dimensional in this offense. Tight end Juwan Johnson might actually be the one to watch!

It's a much more modern offense for the Saints this year and we should see a lot more production overall. Based on what we know from these NFL coaches and this system, the ground game is where you want to be invested, as well as Olave. The rest will take a little time to muddle through during training camp, but there is definite potential to be had.

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Alvin Kamara, Kendre Miller, Chris Olave
• Worst Fits For The System: Taysom Hill, Rashid Shaheed

Saints Defensive Breakdown

• Defensive Front: 4-3 With Muli-Front Looks
• Secondary: Cover-3 & Cover-6 Zone
  • Man Coverage: 36.2% (2^nd)
  • Zone Coverage: 61.9% (31^st)

Allen remains very much in charge of the defense, though last year, the addition of Joe Woods as defensive coordinator helped the coverage schemes in the secondary considerably. Allen does not believe in a heavy blitz package and has relied on Cameron Jordan to be his primary pass rusher and disruptor in the offensive backfield. But Jordan is getting older, so we may see the front seven left in a 4-3 more often which means they may need to rely more on linebackers in coverage, depending on the zone Woods is using in the secondary. 

The key to Woods’ secondary packages is having that extra person in the defensive backfield. He’ll start with a Cover-3 zone but shift up in Cover-1 which uses man coverage except for one safety who sits up high, but depending on the read, will then shift in Cover-6 and make sure there are more defenders than there are receivers. This does make them a bit more vulnerable should the opposing running back get into the second level of the defense, but being in zone will allow for someone to make a move towards the runner.

The defense is a nice blend of styles between Allen and Woods. It remains very much a work in progress and losing Marcus Maye at safety will probably hurt more than they would like to admit. But, overall, this unit can adjust on the fly, and they should continue to be a dominant secondary capable of ball hawking and creating turnovers.  

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Cameron Jordan, Demario Davis, Tyrann Mathieu
• Worst Fits For The System: Paulson Adebo

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Buccaneers Offensive Breakdown

Head coach Todd Bowles is a defensive-minded coach who likes to let his offensive coordinator design the scheme, but after seeing the success of Dave Canales’ scheme, Bowles did not want to shake things up too much now that Canales is in Carolina. He liked the idea of maintaining a similar system and brought in former Rams OC Liam Coen who was running the offense in Los Angeles when Baker Mayfield came to town. Coen was instructed to maintain certain elements of the offense, but, obviously, we will see some changes.

Coen’s first order of business was to improve the offensive line and boost the running game. While Rachaad White was a top-five fantasy running back, he still ranked 40^th in yards per carry average, 16^th in yards after contact and 35^th in broken tackles. The volume is what helped White the most and Coen is hoping to fix and improve the underlying metrics. 

Coen brought in new offensive line coach Kevin Carberry who is being tasked with installing a multiple run-blocking scheme. We’ll see plenty of inside-zone blocking, but Coen also comes from the Rams where wide zone was the top choice. He is used to going sideline-to-sideline, so the adjustments are going to be a work-in-progress for this offense. Carberry is going to have to work extensively with this line, especially if they also want to add elements of power/gap blocking, something we’ve seen a few signs pointing towards. This is one of the primary reasons you see White listed in the aforementioned ‘Busts’ article, as I am just not sure of the volume or how effective he is going to be in this varied scheme.

The passing game won’t be completely overhauled, but we do expect Coen to use more pre-snap motion and three-receiver sets to help stretch the defense out horizontally and tip their hand regarding coverage. He is going to want to use a lot of play action and we will probably see more downfield shots taken. The increased use of 11-personnel will likely push Chris Godwin into the slot a lot more, somewhere he is very comfortable, and he’ll be handling a lot of the underneath work while Mike Evans plays the same role as he did last year, as both a sideline specialist and deep threat. Mayfield showed a strong penchant for finding Evans in traffic, so expect the two to connect often.

This should be an interesting offense to watch this season as the changes could bottleneck things early on. They need the ground game to work if the rest of the scheme is going to be successful, so keep a close eye on things during training camp, especially if you’re drafting late. No one ever won a fantasy championship using a bunch of square pegs trying to fit into round holes.

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Baker Mayfield, Mike Evans
• Worst Fits For The System: Rachaad White

Buccaneers Defensive Breakdown

• Defensive Front: 4-3 With Multi-Front Looks
• Secondary: Outside Man-Coverage With Zone In The Middle
  • Man Coverage: 25.3% (13^th)
  • Zone Coverage: 73.7% (20^th)

Bowles is the master of his own defense and uses a pair of co-coordinators rather than tabbing one guy as the DC. That’s because Bowles is the one calling the defensive plays. Kacy Rodgers will serve as the defensive run game coordinator and handle the front seven while Larry Foote will be the defensive pass game coordinator and handle the secondary. 

Up front, we’ll see a mix of three- and four-man fronts, but with Vita Vea and Calijah Kancey on the defensive line, it allows Rodgers to get a little more creative with his fronts and where the pass rush is going to come from. The Bucs will maintain their heavy blitz rate and will try to pressure the quarterback from all angles. They actually ranked among the best in sack totals, which was predominantly a group effort. If the line can hold down the run, then we could see an extra guy in the defensive backfield, something Foote certainly won’t complain about.

While Foote runs this secondary, understand that this has Bowles’ fingerprints all over it. He is a wizard among secondary NFL coaches and employs a very aggressive coverage style. He likes to mix up coverage packages and it should be interesting to see just how much man coverage he employs this year having lost Carlton Davis. Jamel Dean is solid, but he got beaten up badly by many of the better wideouts. This means we should keep an eye on the safeties. Antoine Winfield is one of the best, but with Bowles running a lot of two-high safeties, they’re going to need a lot from Jordan Whitehead, especially if Zyon McCollum struggles on the outside. 

• Players Who Best Fit The System: Vita Vea, Antoine Winfield
• Worst Fits For The System: Zyon McCollum

2024 Fantasy Football: Related Draft Guide Articles

Don't forget to browse through our other fantasy football draft guide articles for 2024 to discover additional tips and guidance to help you gear up for the upcoming season:

• NFC North Coaches & Systems
• NFC East Coaches & Systems
• AFC North Coaches & Systems
• NFL Players On New Teams